Lead researcher Dr Silvia Stringhini, from Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, said: “Given the huge impact of socioeconomic status on health, it’s vital that governments accept it as a major risk factor and stop excluding it from health policy.”

The Lancet study is the first to compare the impact of poverty with other health threats such as inactivity, smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and boozing.

The study found four in 10 men and just over a quarter of women were poor earners, putting them in the low socio-economic category.
It meant they were 46 per cent less likely to reach the age of 85.

Lacking cash is almost as bad for health as being a couch potato, researchers found

Fellow researcher Professor Paolo Vineis, from Imperial College London, said: “Socio-economic status is important because it is a summary measure of lifetime exposures to hazardous circumstances and behaviours, that goes beyond the risk factors for non-communicable diseases that policies usually address.

“Our study shows that it should be included alongside these conventional risk factors as a key risk factor for ill health.”

POORER Brits are more likely to die in hospital than those who are wealthier, a study found. Most people want to pass away in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by loved ones. But those living in deprived or urban areas, having several diseases, or living with a partner are less likely to die this way. Researchers from King’s College London analysed data on 380,232 patients who died from two common groups of respiratory disease over 14 years. Study leader Professor Irene Higginson said: “Understanding which factors affect place of death is vital for planning service and improving care, especially given our ageing population, rising chronic diseases worldwide and the high costs of hospital admissions.”